Moved

Hi to anyone reading this,
I am no longer updating this blog. I will eventually have a business/craft focused blog, but in the meantime, just the family and friends one, which I don't advertise. No fear, all is grand in the life of this Bean - our son was born in July of 2007 and we are happily settled into our house and life. Wish you all the best! I'll try to remember to post here when I get that other blog up and running, but in the meantime, feel free to leave a comment and it will reach me. Just be sure to include a way for me to contact you if you want a reply.

Due Date

It's official. Today is supposed to be the day my son enters the world. But I highly doubt he is going to choose today to do so. And the doctor agrees. Ugh. Another few days, another week, who knows... I am SO ready for this! I feel huge and sleeping is out of the question. I just keep tossing and turning, number one trying to get comfortable, number two thinking about how my life (or OUR lives) are about to change! I can't wait to hold him. I can't wait to see what he looks like, to hear him cry, to watch him grow; just to meet him and bring him home. There is so much I want to do with him, to show him and teach him! There's just this huge part of me that can hardly believe that Peanut and I will be responsible for another life in just a matter of days.

We are mostly moved in to the new place, too. Got rid of a ton of boxes today, so we can now see our garage floor. The list of "to-do" and "to-buy" is getting shorter (don't get me wrong, as with any new/old house, there is still plenty to tackle) and we've managed to rearrange things just a few times before I think we've settled on the final layout. This weekend we can actually start to decorate and hang pictures, as opposed to just finding a home for things. It is really quite exciting. I'm looking forward to our house warming/meet the baby party!

So hopefully next time I post it will be with exciting news and pictures!

Settling In

Just a quick note to say that we are here and have been in Seattle for a few weeks. Currently living in a friend's rental home while we look for a house, which I was hoping would be cheaper than S. Cal, but apparently is not. {sigh}

Baby baking is going fine, although I am beyond ready for the little guy to be here. We're still waiting for him to turn head down even though I'm 36 weeks. I may have to have a procedure to manually turn him, which I can't say I'm all that thrilled about, but whatever is best for him is good by me. I also want to find a house fairly soon because I am eager to get his nursery set up how I envisioned it.

It is nice to be with family again and able to visit the old hangouts. Still, I miss my girls in Cali. Looking forward to going down for a visit! More later!

On the Road Again

The house is near empty. The truck is all packed. Soon the tears will be shed and goodbyes said. Moving home again. Starting another chapter of life... It is all so strange, so welcome, and somehow so new. New because I never thought leaving would be so hard to do. Somehow, we've made a home here, with wonderful friends and amazing neighbors who are really there for you. We've changed our clothes (shoes, too!), but not our souls and not who we are. That will always be the same, whether here or there. Thankfully, we've found people appreciate that, too.

So in just too short of hours, we'll be driving away, looking back and waving, bringing with us pictures, memories, love, and promises to visit. We'll be heading someplace old that is new again. New adventures await, family can hardly contain the excitement, and honestly, we can't wait, too. It'll be nice to be home again. But this is home now, too.

Wish us luck as we start driving north, two cats, a dog, two kayaks and a bouncing pregnant belly in tow! If you see us on the road, be sure to wave!

Going Home Again

I've been sitting on a piece of news for a few weeks now, figuring out the details, but now is the time to let you all know.... (drum roll please!)

WE'RE MOVING HOME!

Home being Seattle. Yep, Peanut accepted a position at his company's headquarters up there and he starts May 21, so we're moving in two weeks! It's so crazy because we weren't sure if we'd be moving to Portland or Seattle or when exactly we'd make the leap, but it all came together yesterday. The next couple of weeks will be somewhat crazy, I'm sure, packing up everything down here and doing the house hunt up there. Plus, I get to start the search for the doctor to deliver our little guy and the hospital, too.

I'm really, REALLY going to miss my Cali friends, but it has been a wonderful time down here, much to my surprise looking back on when we first moved down here and I thought for sure I'd go crazy watching the news each night. Who knew that Hollywood gossip could take center stage over Bush's latest mis-spoke on the 6 o'clock news? And that palm trees would see more Christmas lights than evergreens? I tell you, there are some crazy things about Southern California, a number of which I am actually going to miss...

So if it is a little quiet around here, you'll understand why.

Womb Service!

I just had to share with you all a cute story from our latest ultrasound. It really was quite humorous and I'm sure is at least a little bit of an insight into what I'm imagining will be our little man's personality.

I had an ultrasound appointment on Thursday morning to check in on our progress and just make sure everything was kosher with the little guy. Since they wanted to check out all of my organs surrounding the uterus, I was asked not to eat breakfast and to gulp down 32 oz. of water prior to coming in. I tell you, asking a pregnant woman to forgo breakfast AND not letting her pee for a couple hours after drinking 32 oz. of liquid is not highly recommended! Still, well worth it for the sake of our son.

In any case, the technician is doing his prodding around; made the usual comment (usual because we hear it at every appointment) that he is "quite an active child". (Um, yeah, I can tell you that every evening when I'm trying to relax and he'll have nothing of it!) At one point, though, he starts chuckling and turns the monitor so that Peanut and I can both see it. We can see his little body and a little hand. Then the technician points to the bean stalk-looking thing next to him and says that it is the umbilical cord (where he gets all of his nutrients). I remind you at this point that I have not had breakfast, so really neither has the baby. That's when we notice why the technician is laughing: our little man has his hand wrapped around the cord! He absolutely looked like he was ringing the bell for breakfast, pulling on the cord and saying, "Um, I'm HUNGRY here! How about some food coming my way?" None of us had ever seen anything quite like it and it really had all of us laughing! Needless to say, we finished up quickly, they finally let me empty my bladder, then Peanut and I came home and I ate my long-awaited breakfast.

Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of the scene, but I'm sure you can all imagine it. Just thought that little story might brighten your day!

By the way, in case we haven't updated you, all is fine here. I'm 27 weeks now (next week is the third trimester - YAY!), feeling fine, if not a little large (had to buy some slip-on shoes since bending down is tricky now), and Ollie is, as you read in the story, an active mover. We can hardly wait for July when we get to meet the newest member of our family.

23 Weeks

It's been a while since I last posted, but much has been happening in the land of belly growth. Our little man is kicking every day, many times a day (and night) and is now, according to BabyCenter, about 11 inches long!

Last night Peanut and I went to a ballet (it was my Christmas present from him), so while I was at least somewhat dolled up, compared to my work-from home gear or going to art class threads, I figured I'd snap a pic to show the progression. We even did round one of the baby registry last week! Still a lot to do, but if you see any snazzy sock monkey themed items, send 'em my way, since that's the theme for the baby's room!

Work is going along smoothly. Finished two wedding invitation ensembles and two save the dates; moving on to those invites. I will be taking the next few weeks to re-visit the biz plan, update the official name change, and finally get the website running. Wish me luck! I promise I'll get better about posting fun, photo and craft filled blogs!

My Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! We are thrilled to announce that we're having a SON in July, which we found out on Wednesday morning. The ultrasound was just incredible to see and made everything all the more real. We even have a few shots using 3D ultrasound, but our little man is quite a mover, so the images are even more blurry than usual, making him look a little like an alien. It's finally starting to sink in that I'm going to have a boy. Here's hoping he's a Momma's Boy for life!

Ti-i-i-ime Ain't On My Side

Ever notice how time can just utterly drag one minute and then seemingly fly by the next? For instance, I feel like it is going to be forever until the baby gets here, but then I realize that I'm already down to only 23 weeks! Everything with the baby-baking is going grandly. At 17 weeks now and I feel like I'm huge, but apparently the rest of the world still has yet to catch on, for the most part. I still haven't had anyone come up to me yet to ask if I'm pregnant, but Peanut and I can't believe the change that my body is "growing" through. I was quite excited to feel some movement during class the other day and have felt a little here and there since then, too! I think one of the (many) baby sites described this time of waiting to feel movement quite well by saying something to the effect of, "You're waiting and waiting, eager to feel the first fluttery movements, the same kicks which in a few weeks will be keeping you up all night." Ah, yes, I can hardly wait.

Time has been helped in the "speed up" process by two classes that I've signed up for at the local Community College. I got my BA a number of years ago, but there were a few classes that I never was able to get into. Now seemed like the perfect time and something that I can somewhat relate to my business, so I am enrolled in Beginning Jewelry Metalsmithing and Beginning Sculpture! So far I am highly enjoying both and I promise I'll show my projects along the way. Unfortunately this post will be sadly lacking in pictures of any sort, but I fully intend to snap some shots of things during the course of the next three months! Right now in Sculpture, we're creating clay formations that will be turned into molds, which we'll then make cement sculptures from. It's all about exploring "organic" shapes, volume, negative space, etc. The organic part had me absolutely confused at first, but I think I've nailed it down! (If you're wondering, it is a shape that is NOT geometric, but that could be found in nature; lots of curves and such.) Some of the pieces are... interesting.

A bit of a boring post, and for that I apologize. The Nut is in Texas for a biz meeting, so I've had to beg my poor neighbor to come scoop the litter box daily (DON'T touch the litter box if you are pregnant!). Also had to give some blood for the AFP screening today, in which they try to determine if your fetus may have any sort of issue such as Down's Syndrome or spina bifida. Trying not to think about the results too much, but the next 7-10 days will drag.

There goes that dragging time thing again...

Nothing like a cold day to inspire a post

I've been meaning to post about my fun new craft project, crewel needlework! I can't remember how I found out about it, but I was so impressed with all of the projects featured on Wool & Hoop's site that I bought the book, "The New Crewel" for my Mom as a birthday present. Little did I know that just a few days later I'd be getting a copy of my own for Christmas! When the fam was here, we women bought the supplies needed (although, I'll warn you, it is nearly impossible to find crewel wool, the thread that is supposed to be used for these projects, at least around here!). I did find some great online sites, but my sister and I actually ended up using regular embroidery thread for our projects. We had actually bought an entire kit for my Mom, so she had the right stuff. Still, I think ours looked pretty dang good for being first attempts! Here's how mine turned out:

The colors are a little bit more bold in person. An apple-y green, turquoise blue, and deep chocolate brown. I'm thinking I might do a few different versions of the same pattern but playing around with the color scheme and frame them all together. Might be fun decorations for the nursery!

Speaking of nursery and all things baby, I'm officially in the second trimester now at 15 weeks! It's AMAZING the difference in morning sickness between "then" and now. I actually cooked dinner last night! I think it was the first time in three months! And yes, this is a lot for the girl who usually loves to cook and bake. Here's a shot of the Garbanzo so far, or at least how it looks on the outside:

One of the really strange things I've noticed lately? My belly button! No, it hasn't popped, but it's OVAL! Not only that but it's a horizontal oval, as in stretches left to right, not up and down. So crazy...

One more week till the 2nd trimester...

(Baby is in the top, head on the left)

Yay! I'm just over 13 weeks now and just amazed at the journey so far. At our ultrasound this morning we saw the tiniest of feet kicking around (although I still can't feel anything just yet) - SO cool! It's hard to believe that we are really going to be parents in a few months. I'm looking forward to entering the second trimester; hoping that the morning sickness (persistent nausea is NOT fun) will finally end after going on for almost 7 weeks now, plus hoping I'll start showing more. Right now only my close friends and family can really tell I've got a prego belly versus eating too much holiday junk food (which, by the way, has not been appealing at all, much to my sweet tooth surprise!).

Belly shot - 13 weeks

Peanut and I are still debating about whether we should find out the gender or not. I kind of think it would be nice not to know; of course I say that now, but I know, come time to decorate the nursery or buy cute bitty clothes, I'll want to know. Peanut just plain feels the need to know.

I also found the bassinet I'd like to use for the first few months. The research on it has been quite positive - it's made from sustainable timber, so it is environmentally friendly, and is one of only five cradles to be JPMA Safety Certified. Plus, it folds up, so with the limited space we have here, we won't need to worry so much about storage and can use it for future children AND travel! Comes with the matress and a fitted sheet, too. It's the Cariboo Folding Bassinet (the bag part is easy to remove and machine wash/dry):

So, yes, Baby Mania has taken over most of my day around here, but I am working with four brides and plotting out a new business plan for the next five years (a storefront sounds GRAND). I know, I know, still need to finish my website...

Merry Christmas!

Hoping you all had wonderful holidays!